A former Chicago school principal fraud case has resulted in federal prison sentences for three defendants after each pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges arising from a scheme that ran across two cities and nearly a decade. Brian Metcalf, Kimberly Maddox, and James Darnell Campbell were sentenced in a Northern District of Illinois federal court and ordered to pay restitution collectively totalling $1,099,200.
Metcalf, 52, served as a network chief and principal at Gage Park High School within Chicago Public Schools before later moving to Indianapolis, according to WTTW Chicago News. Maddox, 55, is from Matteson, Illinois, and Campbell, 59, is from Frankfort, Illinois.
How the Chicago School Principal Fraud Was Constructed
The scheme began while Metcalf was working within the Chicago school system. Prosecutors alleged that Metcalf and Maddox falsely claimed Maddox or her husband had provided services to two school systems and a nonprofit, for work that was never performed. That phase of the fraud cost the victim organisations close to $700,000 over approximately a decade.
Prosecutors alleged Metcalf spearheaded the offence by using his institutional knowledge of the victim schools and organisation to supply co-defendants with templates and language for false invoices designed to appear legitimate. Once invoices were approved and funds remitted, Maddox and Campbell each gave Metcalf half of the proceeds, according to WTTW.
When Metcalf moved to Indianapolis to lead the Tindley Accelerated Schools charter network, he extended the scheme to his new employer. Metcalf led Tindley, which runs three Indianapolis charter schools serving roughly 1,000 K-12 students, from July 2019 through December 2022. Campbell was brought into the arrangement during this period, and Metcalf caused Tindley to pay Campbell close to $400,000 through fabricated invoices for consulting work he did not carry out.
Charges, Pleas, and Sentences
Metcalf originally faced nine counts of wire fraud in a federal indictment filed in 2023. Under a plea agreement finalised in February 2025, he pleaded guilty to two of those counts. Maddox had faced four counts and Campbell five counts in the federal proceedings, according to Fox 59.
Metcalf and Campbell were each sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison. Maddox received two years. All three must pay restitution totalling $1,099,200, a figure confirmed in the U.S. Department of Justice records for the case.
Metcalf’s plea agreement acknowledged that the unnamed nonprofit and the Tindley schools are owed $1,010,700 in restitution between them, according to Chalkbeat Indiana. Prosecutors had initially sought forfeiture of a Chicago home listed under Metcalf’s name, but property records showed he sold the property for $285,000 in the days immediately following the filing of the federal indictment.
Scale Across Both Cities
The fraud cost Chicago close to $700,000 and Indianapolis close to $400,000, according to WGN TV, for a combined total exceeding $1 million across both cities. The restitution order of $1,099,200 reflects the full loss figure established at sentencing.
The case illustrates how a public-sector administrator with access to invoice-approval processes across multiple institutions can extend a procurement fraud scheme well beyond a single employer. For Tindley, which serves a relatively small student population across three schools, the losses represent a substantial portion of the restitution now owed collectively by all three defendants.
Subject to any onward proceedings, the sentences and restitution order stand as the conclusion of a prosecution that began with a 2023 federal indictment and ended with guilty pleas from all three defendants. The Northern District of Illinois will oversee compliance with the restitution terms, and Metcalf’s sentencing record now closes a chapter that prosecutors say he opened using nothing more than institutional access and forged paperwork.
